History to Histories

History to Histories

Many people forget the importance of history and how each part of history played a role in creating the world we all know today.  I think the saying is true that if we don’t learn our history we are bound to make the same choices, which could be huge mistakes in our future.  One could spend a lifetime learning all of the history of how modern humans came to be especially how the United States came to be with its vast cultural differences.  “Identifying the various forms of historical contexts is the first step in understanding how history affects communication” (129 Martin, Nakayama).    This quote really sums up how we need to study not one but many historical events to understand the true meaning of how history has affected our communication.

The cultural group that I chose to research is the Chinese immigrants during the 1800’s.  In the mid 1800’s thousands of Chinese immigrants worked day after day with hand tools building the transcontinental railroad.  Starting the railroad from the west, “ Chinese immigrants provided a vast pool of cheap labor and by 1865 more that 50 thousand Chinese settled in California, at least 90% of them being young men” (53, The Chinese In America).  Without the hard work of these individuals the united states would not be able to ship goods and people from one side of the country to the other.  These men blasted and carved their way through solid rock and a built structures to carry the train over the vast canyons.

Those immigrants that lived to see the railroad completed would settle along the transcontinental route and eventually become another cultural aspect that makes the United States so diverse and interesting.

References

Martin, J.N. & Nakayama, T.K. (2013). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (6th Ed.) New York, NY: McGraw Hill

Chang, I (2013) The Chinese in America. New York, NY: Viking Press